COVID-19 began spreading at the end of 2019. Our posts cover the ensuing drop in employment; differential impacts on workers by income, race, ethnicity, gender, education, and parental status; unemployment insurance and other social supports to assist those impacted; the mounting red ink on federal and state budgets; and ramifications in areas ranging from developing countries, to education, the environment, and beyond.
November 25, 2020
Available real-time data indicate that there is tremendous unmet need and that households with children report the highest rates of not having enough to eat.
October 13, 2020
Automatic stabilizers are spending or tax policies that cushion downturns and taper off as the economy improves. They respond rapidly and continue while needed.
October 1, 2020
The combination of job losses that were markedly worse for low-earning workers and the expansion of unemployment benefits made the CARES Act very progressive.
August 27, 2020
The Covid-19 recession has led to a sharp decline in women’s employment contrasting with previous recessions that saw a larger rise in unemployment for men.
August 18, 2020
CO2 emissions around the world have dropped markedly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Can this drop make a lasting dent on our climate change trajectory?
August 11, 2020
The CARES Act added a $600 federal benefit that increased the generosity of state unemployment insurance. But many factors impact the intensity with which the unemployed seek work.
July 29, 2020
About one third of the U.S. workforce has a child under 14 in their household. Disruptions in childcare and schooling can hamper the recovery and hurt economic growth.
July 14, 2020
The share of children in households where no one had an income increased from 7% to 15% between Feb and Apr 2020, with differential impacts by race, income and family structure.
July 6, 2020
Mobile money offers a way to distribute cash transfers to the poor during COVID, especially in remote areas and to those without access to financial institutions.